Homework, 11/18

Please make sure that you complete both parts of your project this weekend (artistic and writing)! Please follow the directions so you can present your illustration/model as well as the 5 paragraph essay and answers to the prompts I provided in some type of logical sequence (as you have been taught during school) Please scroll down to find the instructions (if you misplaced them) as well as some pictures of what the kids did last year. The directions were given out around or before November 2nd that’s when I posted the pictures of what the kids did last year to the blog as well as other information pertaining to the project on the website. We’ve also been discussing this project ad nauseum since it was first announced because my goal was to provide constant context and feedback during the times in class in which we used the textbook above all else.

Here is a direct link to that specific blog post w/ pictures. You can get a basic idea of what the models look like (remember, though, if you read my previous blog post you’d have learned that many kids didn’t follow the directions 100%, rather, they simply built modern cities from the ground up.

Continuing, I’ll be honest, I heard far too many kids today in both 5S and 5L tell me that they didn’t even start their projects yet after almost 3 weeks, that they don’t even know what the link to my website is, or what they have to do, etc., this is despite the fact that they can easily grab extra copies of the work they lost/missed on the side counter by the door OR they can follow through on their responsibility and download the homework that I post on the blog 9 times out of 10.

Unfortunately, a small handful of students are too irresponsible to check the blog on their own (as many parents are finding out the hard way). Ultimately, this kind of lapse in judgment is inexcusable, especially partway through the second marking period. Continuing, I expect much more accountability/improved submission rates now as it pertains to individual responsibility since Quarter 1 was a new experience and overall very trying on my students. We have multiple layers of redundancy in place now as well aimed at giving students countless opportunities to submit their work (99% of the time) w/ out penalty.

Anyway, I did receive a couple of projects yesterday (w/out the writing, of course :-). …and they looked GREAT! I can’t wait to see what the students have in store for me on Monday. Thanks!

Math– please use your textbook and notes to help you complete the double-sided worksheet, Reteach 5A, pages 53-54

Reading– use your Reader’s notebooks and keep track of your Log for at least 2 days this weekend (Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, choose 2 of 3 days).

Write down the main idea, subheadings, and at least 3 notes per subheading – I showed students how to do this two separate ways on the board, once on the front board and again on the back board – so my hope is that they use their notes to complete this assignment as they have been taught. Proper note-taking is a process and a skill and so I expect to have to drill this concept into our students for a while to come.

Remember, it’s very similar to how you take your notes for Social Studies – the subheadings are the purple sections and the information below are the notes. It’s no different than that.

FINALLY, if you did not submit all of the assignments from yesterday, please do so this weekend. I left copies of every single activity that the sub gave out during class on Thursday on the counter by the door (I always leave extra copies over there). I know that I did not collect the work from everyone today as many kids had only some of the work, not all of it. Attached below are copies of the items I have available online. I’ll have the gradebook updated by Sunday and so you can have a better idea of what your child is missing. Thanks!